Ok, this review is only for one meal-honesty upfront.
I've eaten at the Paradise Ca one, but only breakfast- which was pretty good.
With that in mind, I ran over to have a bite before a concert. I almost went to an old standby-Cafe Boa- because it never lets me down.
But
I figured I didn't want to pay 16.00 for dinner that night, and hence made a poor choice to go to the Tempe Black Bear Diner.
Was early, no wait (or maybe others have already decided ugh-not!) waitress was sweet.
Brought me water that I took one sip of and gagged-tasted like dirt or mud. Sounds weird. It was crystal clear. Huh? I asked for bottled- didn't have, so I asked for another try. Ugh! Same dirt flavour. I mentioned it and she said that she didn't like their water either. I asked if any drink they sold wasn't made with their water and she said lemon aid. She apologised and said she wouldn't charge me for the drink-since I didn't really want it. Since I was soooo thirsty I got that. Was good- but I NEVER drink sweet with dinner. Oh well
I ordered the meatloaf- don't know why. Guess I figured you can't screw that up.
You can.
It was so damned bland- was like eating unseasoned burger meat. Bland bland bland.
I just had to choke it down as much as I could.
But the seasonal veggies were very good. That's what I ate all of. The mashed potatoes were bland too.
At the end, my bill was almost 16.00! She had charged me the 2.75 for lemonaid. She was no where to be seen for 5 min- so I just paid and left.
There are SO many better-and cheaper places than this in Tempe. Yeah, the bear stuff is cute.
Go look at it- and eat somewhere else!!